emcash

According to Tauck no one is allowed to discount their tours, yet AT sells their tours at about 200 cheaper than Tauck. The woman at Tauck basically said "be careful when booking, make sure you know who you're booking it through." which of course made me nervous. Has anyone booked through AT? how is it they can offer the discount? would you book directly through tauck?

valtor

In 2004 we booked our Canadian Rockies Tauck Tour via Pavlus tours. We received 10 % discount from Tauck price, and also a travel bag as gift. We were very happy with Pavlus service. They answered very fast and clearto all our questions, we received all documents in time.
Pavlus site is http://www.cheapertravel.com/ and there is written: "When You Buy Your Tauck World Discovery Tour from Pavlus, Have Full Confidence You Will Receive Our Low Tauck Prices. We're The World's Largest Single Office Seller of Tauck Tours. "
We worked with a Pavlus agent for this tauck tour, and in 2005 with the same very good agent for our trip to Japan (with general tours). If ytou are interested, I can give you her name & email.

xyz123

I've booked several tours through affordable tours and they're fine and they give you a discount on top to boot. Have no fears in using them.

kdappleton

We've booked six tours through AT for Tauck At one time it was 10% discount, now only 5%. Completely reliable. I use extension 111, and have had wonderful service.

nytraveler

All they're doing is reducing their commission from Tauck - there's no magic in it - to get increased volume. It's not a different tour or anything - and Tauck knows only what they're paid by the agent - not what you pay the agent.

Tauck would naturally prefer that you bookk directly with thme- then they don;t have to pay a commission.

Several posters here have reported using Affordable Tours - so they seem legitimte. Just check with BBB - and Tauck once you've paid - to make sure you are reserved.

emcash

Here's what concerned me. I asked the AT rep what flights we would need to take to coincide with the Tauck tour so we could leave directly from the aiport. The agent called me back and gave me a time. when i asked the tauk agent this question, she gave me completely different flights! That got me nervous.

crackers

I have taken several Tauck tours in the US and Canada. I never book through Tauck for flights. They are more expensive and usually only use certain airlines so the times and route sometimes are not the greatest. Just make sure you know the times the tour is beginning and ending then book you flights accordingly. Best if you can fly in a day early. When I flew home from Grand Rapids Tauck had the people on a flight back to Salt Lake to get to Boston. I went right from Grand Rapids to Boston with only one stop.

valtor

I was with tauck only in Canadian Rockies. I did not buy the flights from them.
We arrived two days before starting of the tour and stayed at one of the hotels listed by Tauck (reserved by Tauck and had 5 or 10 % discount). The tour started from the airport, but Tauck bus came to our hotel to take us there.

amsdon

I have booked Glubus through AT, not Tauk yet.
I have also opted the go straight to Gate 1 on another occasion when the discount from AT amounted to $25.00 per person and not worth it.

If you have a strong rep @ AT you are ok. When you find one stick w/ them for everything. Otherwise I think the air is better when you go straight to Tauk. They simply care a bit more about their own reputation I think.

ams

missmissy

My understandng is that Affordable Tours has a great reputation. We booked our Collette Tour with them. Collette spoke highly of them. Perhaps the woman who told you to be careful was trying to make you fearful. I mean, let's face it if you save $200 then Tauck makes less money. So, sureeeeeeeee she'd rather you book directly with them. I bet if you called back and talked with someone else at Tauck you may not get the warning....could be one of those things that vary according to who you talk with. I wouldn't worry about booking with AT. Did you tell the Tauck woman it was AT??? Or maybe that was just a general warning? I'd call them both back for your peace of mind and my guess is you'll get the reassurance you need to book with AF and save money. I imagine they're able to offer discounts due to the large volume of sales they handle. Again, we booked our upcoming Italy trip with Collette Tours with AF and I have NO FEARS. Take care Melissa

missmissy

sorry, it's late....didn't mean to type AF.........just AT......Affordable Tours